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WHEREAS, T. Rashad Byrdsong is a grassroots activist and community organizer whose experiences in the civil rights movement, his service to his country in the Vietnam War and membership in the Black Panther Party has endowed within him a personal mission in the restoration, reclamation and transformation of distressed communities through strategic planning, collaboration, advocacy, education and mobilization; and,
WHEREAS, T. Rashad Byrdsong, nationally known for his innovation in coalition building, and working with parents who lost children to violence, sensing there was something he could do to help reduce this violence, founded Community Empowerment Association in 1994 to address the many factors that lead to violence in the Homewood-Brushton area of Pittsburgh and other communities similarly situated ; and,
WHEREAS, as founder and CEO of Community Empowerment Association, Mr. Byrdsong successfully expanded a $5,000 agency to one that generates over $2 million dollars, annually, and since 1994, has served over 25,000 individuals, youth and families residing in 48 neighborhoods, enrolled in 94 schools and 23 school districts in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County; and,
WHEREAS, Mr. Byrdsong has a long history of working with youth who are seriously at risk of imprisonment or death by providing street mentoring services, conflict resolution, negotiating peace treaties, family reunification and connecting these youth to needed services to help get them on a more positive life track. From 1999-2002, he collaborated with a major hospital system in Pittsburgh to provide trauma intervention services in the emergency room with the families of victims who experienced violent traumatic events.
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby recognize Community Empowerment Association on the occasion of its 24th anniversary and celebration of Founder’s Day and commends T. Rashad Byrdsong for his dedicated service to the Homewood-Brushton community; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare Friday, June 9, 2017 to be “T. Rashad Byrdsong Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.